Improvement in ordnance



ITNITED STATES PATENT -CFFIcn NORMAN VIARD, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT vIN ORDNANCE.l

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,535, dated March 10, 1874; applicat'on filed February 11, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN WIARD, of Washington city, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ordnance 5 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 shows a vertical longitudinal section of a gun made according to my invention; Fig. 2, a similar horizontal sect-ion, Fig. 3, a cross-section on line .r Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a muzzle or face view of the gun. Fig. 5 shows a side elevation of a projectile suitable for use in guns having my improvements 5 Fig. 6, a longitudinal central section of the projectile. Fig. 7 is a cross-section of the projectile, taken on the line y y of Fig. 5. Fig. Sis a detached view of one of the lugs or gibs of the projectile, showing a method of attaching these lugs so as to be adjustable in direction and depth. Fig. 9 shows a method of centering spherical or round shot and shell in the gun when no lugs are used.

The object of my invention is to rifle the ordinary smooth-bore guns in such a manner that when provided with shot and shell, having the form and construction hereinafter described, they may be used so as to produce results far 'superior to what is now attained with such guns, and may also be used when so required as ordinary smooth-bore guns. The nature of my invention consists in riiling a gun with two grooves at the sides of the bore, having such a pitch that a smooth surface of land will be left along the entire length of the gun, leaving the lands both above and below so wide, where the spherical shot would ballot while being ejected, that the gun may possess both the properties of a smooth-bore or a riflegun; and, in connection with this system of riding, the construction and form of the projectile, by which it is centered in the bore ofthe gun, with windage all around alike, with its bearings or rubbing-surface mechanically fitted to the grooves and the bore in such a manner that the body of the projectile need not come in contact with the surface of the bore while being inserted or ejected. By these means, the work which the powder is capable of exerting is more nearly all expended in giving projectile force to the shot, and not lost by wearin g upon the gun.

The following is a clear and exact description of my improvements, which will enable others skilled in the art to which they apper tain to construct and operate the same.

Letter a in the drawings represents a gun, which may be made of any desirable metal, or in any known manner, but which I prefer to make of cast-iron. This gun, when bored, is rifled with two grooves, b and b', stationed opposite each other. These grooves commence at the' muzzle, at one side of the perpendicular line through the center of the bore, and have a pitch or inclination so as to terminate near the breech or chamber, in a like manner as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, which leaves a broad surface of land at the bottom and top of the bore along its entire length, so that the gun may be used in firing spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectiles with or without rotation, as may be desirable.` The projectile to be used with the gun for rifle eifect I make of a conical-cylindrical shape, having two projecting gibs or lugs, o, which are so made as. to t the grooves of the gun with mechanical accuracy, and of proper dimensions to insure strength against rupture in the rotation of the shot. It is further provided with small buttons or points e, around the periphery near its base, which are made of soft metal, and protrude sufficiently to center the projectile in the bore of the gun. If desirable, the bearing-surface of the lugs or gibs o may be lined with brass or other suitable composition, and the projectile may be chilled in part or in whole. The gibs or lugs o on the projectile B may be modified in various ways, one of which is shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8, which show the gibs attached to the shot by means of a screw-thread. By this arrangement, the distance between the faces or outer surfaces of the two gibs may be increased or lessened to admit of any easy adjustment of the projectile to the bore to make an exact mechanical t in case the latter becomes enlarged, coated, or fouled in shooting or other wise; and also to prevent the gibs or lugs from indenting the grooves of the gun by any upsetting of the projectile. When spherical shot are to be used, I supply them with soft-metal buttons or points, which protrude from the surface a proper distance to cause the shot to be centrally located in the bore of a smoothbore gun, so that the windage will be equal all around, thus remedying the injurious effect of balloting or the upsetting of the projectile by the unequal escape of gas around it. (See Fig. 9.)

I will here remark that it is a well-known fact that the effects of friction from the projectile rubbing against the surface of the bore is a prolific cause of the unequal heating of the gun, causing injurious tensions, resulting in the bursting of large guns, rather than from the elastic force or pressure of the gases resulting from the colnbustion of the powder.

By adjusting the shot centrally in the bore, without rubbing or indenting contact, that part of the work which the powder is capable of performing that has heretofore been expended on the gun may be diverted to giving the required effect of adding to the projectile force of the shot.

In naval operations, it is often required that the guns, when used in action, should be smooth bored, throwing spherical shot or shell with ricochet effect; and on other occasions it is highly necessary that the guns used should be ritled, in order to obtain accuracy and range, and to facilitate the use of the best form of projectile for penetrating effect. Ships and Seacoast fortifications are therefore armed with both kinds of guns.

By my improvements, each gun may be used as a smooth-bore or as a rifle, thus doubling the usefulness of guns. This system of riliin g, and the projectiles, may be applied to smoothbored guns now made, and are equally applicable to breech-loading as to muzzle-loading cannon.

In practicing my improvements, the rifleshot is inserted in the gun by entering the lugs in the grooves. The buttons near the base bear upon the lands of the bore and center the shot, thus allowing equal windage all around it. When the charge is fired the projectile is forced out of the bore, and, as the shot is central therein, with windage, the upsetting which occurs does not indent the surface of the bore, nor is there any friction, other than that absolutely necessary to give the projectile proper rotation and direction.

By regulating the amount of windage in each class cf guns, it may always be so adjusted as to exactly allow for the necessary upsetting without any Wedgin g of the projectile in the gun.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The system herein described for the construction of rifled ordnance and projectiles, consisting in forming, within the bore of the gun, grooves having lands above and below, whereby the gun is adapted for ring either round or conical shot, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of January, 1874.

NORMAN WIARD. Vitnesses:

GEO. W. JoHNEs, FREDERIC II. SNYDER. 

